Monday, October 13, 2008

WITH ACCELERATION IN ECONOMIC GROWTH, INDIA HAS BECOME ONE OF THE FASTEST GROWING DEVELOPING COUNTRIES. THIS HAS CREATED A RIFT BETWEEN POOR AND RICH; 22 PER CENT OF THE POPULATION LIVES BELOW THE INCOME POVERTY LINE. DUE TO UNEMPLOYMENT, INCREASING RURAL-URBAN MIGRATION, ATTRACTION OF CITY LIFE AND A LACK OF POLITICAL WILL INDIA NOW HAS ONE LARGEST NUMBER OF CHILD LABORERS IN THE WORLD. STREET CHILDREN ARE SUBJECT TO MALNUTRITION, HUNGER, HEALTH PROBLEMS, SUBSTANCE ABUSE, THEFT, HARASSMENT BY THE CITY POLICE AND RAILWAY AUTHORITIES, AS WELL AS PHYSICAL AND SEXUAL ABUSE. THOUGH GOVERNMENT OF INDIA HAS TAKEN SOME CORRECTIVE MEASURES AND DECLARED CHILD LABOR AS ILLEGAL.THIS CHILD WAS PICKED UP FROM THE STREETS BY THE GOVERNMENT ORGANISATION AS A MAL-NOURISH HOMELESS CHILD.MANY WERE ENSNARED IN DRUGS, GANGS, AND PROSTITUTION.MANY BOYS WHO WERE ONCE DYING ON THE STREETS OF MUMBAI UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF DRUGS HAVE BEEN FOUND REHABILITATED. DRUG ADDICTED STREET CHILDREN USING THE FIRST CLASS LOCAL LADIES TRAIN COMPARTMENT AS THEIR SHELTER FOR REST.NONE OF THE RAILWAY POLICE AROUND TO SHOO... THEM AWAY FROM THE TRAIN.THIS KID REFUSED TO TEL IS NAME BUT CALLED HIMSELF AS MOUGLI. HE SAID EVERY EVENING I VISIT THE GARDEN A I ENJOY PLAYING ON SLIDES.BUT MY OWNER DOESNT ALLOW ME TO GO SO IN THE NAME OF BEGGING I VISIT A NEARBY GARDEN.ON AUGUST 20, 2006 AFTERNOON WE GOT THE NEWS THAT TITUS & IRFAN TWO INMATES OF AN ORPHANAGE ARE BATTLING FOR THEIR LIVES AT HARKISANDAS HOSPITAL AFTER THEY JUMPED FROM THE THIRD FLOOR OF THE REHABILITATION CENTER ON SUNDAY, APPARENTLY IN AN EFFORT TO ESCAPE. SUNIL, SANDEEP, AKSHAY & PRAKASH THEIR INMATES SAID REGULARLY THEY WERE BEATEN UP BY WARDEN & THE AUTHORITIES PLAYED LOUD MUSIC SO THAT THE NEAR BY RESIDENTS WOULD NOT HEAR THE SCREAMS. THERE WAS A MAJOR CHAOS AMONG THESE KIDS.THE CHILDREN WHO ARE FORCED TO BEG ARE USUALLY YOUNG RUNAWAYS, WHO HAVE LEFT HOME DUE TO VARIOUS REASONS SUCH AS HARSH TREATMENT, ABUSE, BROKEN FAMILIES AND POVERTY. IN ADDITION TO THESE ARE ABANDONED AND DESTITUTE ORPHANS WHO HAVE NO PLACE OF REFUGE.SO THEY STAY ON THE STREETS AND WHEN THE SUMMER TEMPERATURES ARE HIGH AS 34 DEGREE CELCIUS ONE CAN OFTEN SEE THESE KIDS HAVING DIP IN THE SACRED WATERS OF BANGANGA.

MILES, AND YET MORE ENDLESS MILES, OF FRACTURED EARTH. NO TREES, NOT A BLADE OF GRASS. NO BIRDS. NO STONES, NO MILE-STONES. ONLY EMPTINESS EXTENDED. IT'S HARD TO MISS THE HUGE SALTPANS ADJACENT TO THE CREEKS OF MUMBAI, INDIA. ACCORDING TO THE SALT COMMISSION, THERE ARE A TOTAL OF 5,400 ACRES OF SALTPANS IN THE MUMBAI CITY, RANGING FROM MULUND TO NAHUR, KANJUR VILLAGE, GHATKOPAR, WADALA, MAHUL, MALVANI AND DAHISAR.LANDLESS PEOPLE BELONGING TO SOCIALLY AND ECONOMICALLY BACKWARD CASTES AND COMMUNITIES ARE COMPELLED TO WORK ON SALT PANS AS SEASONAL LABORERS. SALT PAN WORKERS WORK UNDER THE SCORCHING SUN FOR UP TO EIGHT-TEN HOURS EVERY DAY MAKING SALT FROM SEA WATER. THE POOR SALTPAN WORKERS DAY RUNS AROUND WITH THE RAISING SUN AS HIS CLOCK.EVEN AS THE SUMMER SUN BEATS DOWN RELENTLESSLY, WORK IS BRISK AT THE SALT PANS. THE WORKERS ARE PAID RS 2,000 (47$ APPROXIMATELY) PER MONTH, WORK FOR EIGHT MONTHS IN A YEAR AND ARE LAID OFF DURING THE MONSOON. PEOPLE MOSTLY RETURN TO WORK AT THE SAME SALT PANS, SO WE CAN LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING SOME OF THE SAME FACES EVERY YEAR.

Despite many efforts since independence, almost 90% of India's labour is in the unorganized sector. Working in farms, industry and commerce, they are among the most exploited of India's people. Neither do they get paid for days they are sick or injured. Yet, as movements like the Hamal Panchayat show, the improvement of worker conditions can only be obtained by a rights-based struggle for dignity and against exploitation.Called Hamals in Maharashtra, manual load carriers are the backbone of commercial activity in every city. In Pune, there are over 14000 Hamals engaged in regular work.The Hamal Panchayat acts as a security blanket for porters, offering them basic economic facilities. In the narrow streets of Bhawani Peth is the office of the Hamal Panchayat, an organisation that works for the development of the porters of Pune, Maharashtra.Vaman Chavhan, 65, never imagined a house of his own, leave alone formal education for his children. After all, Chavhan was a hamal, a porter/head-load carrier, the poorest among the community of unskilled labourers. As a daily wage labourer, earning between Rs 80 and Rs 100 per day, Chavhan may not have otherwise hoped for security. Like Chavhan, there are several other hamals who have got access to basic housing, education and medical facilities.The panchayat has taken adequate steps to provide them essential facilities like banking, medical care and housing. It also started a community kitchen known as Kashtachi Bhakar where nutritious food was served at a nominal rate of Rs 5. Started in 1974, there are 12 kitchens now where almost 130 women from hamal households are employed for cooking and serving. These women, too, derive wage benefits of Rs 100 per day for eight hours of work. With this organisation constantly striving to improve their lot, hamals have found in it an ally who is willing to take some burden off their shoulders.

About Me

Photographer Shriya Patil based in Mumbai and currently contributes her works for Fortune Magazine & Hindustan Times Mint newspaper and has worked with India Today as a senior photographer. Shriya has worked as a photojournalist in news, portrait & fashion world in Mumbai.
Prior to her current assignment, she has worked with a leading city tabloid Mumbai Mirror published by the Times of India Group & ‘Better Photography magazine’. Shriya started out as a freelancer and did assignments for Press Trust of India.
With both parents closely associated with the world of art (father is artist & mother an art teacher) creativity and passion run in my family. Photography began as a hobby in school, but in her late teens, she began using a camera as a creative expression tool to communicate to others all that inspired her. Shriya is very curious about different cultures and way of living, which drives her work. She enjoys trekking, & uses the trips to discover unexplored places of India, enthralling routes and the different customs. She had also received an honorable mention award- in Mumbai press photography award.